ITX Mid-range Gaming build

This week, 2 days late, I’ve got an ITX Gaming build. This is designed to replace an XBOX One / PS4, but then completely annihilate it on specs. You have so much more choice when using a PC for gaming.

I’ve chosen the Intel Xeon E3-1230 V3 CPU. This is the Haswell version and it a bit more expensive than previous versions, but it gives us access to a bigger and better range of motherboards. This CPU has the power of the i7 (it’s the cheapest E3 which supports HyperThreading) and has no support for onboard graphics. By being quad-core and supporting hyperthreading it is essentially an 8-core processor. You’re probably thinking that there’s no point ot that in a gaming computer. Well, with the release of Windows 10 and DirectX 12 there’s going to be much better support for multi core processors…

The Zalman CNPS8900 is a fantastic low-profile CPU cooler. Quieter and more efficient than the stock cooler, and for not a lot extra. With this being an ITX build it’s small and cramped, so good cooling is a must.

The MSI Z87I AC motherboard is perfect for this build. It’s reasonably cheap (coming in at under £60) and supports everything we’d need. USB 3.0, 4 x SATA3, PCI-E 16x, support for 16GB RAM – and the best feature – AC WiFi. Of course you could use the onboard LAN port (or both of them), but AC WiFi is the future.

Here there as the choice between the slightly cheaper R9 280 or the much more efficient GTX 960. I’ve gone with efficiency for the cramped ITX build. It runs cooler, and that’s important for a build like this.

And for everything else there’s a gamepad. This part isn’t on PCPartPicker, so I’ve added the link from Scan.

Total:

£846.89

Prices include shipping, taxes, and discounts when available

Generated by PCPartPicker 2015-02-15 10:08 GMT+0000

Then add on a copy of Windows 7 / 8.1 from eBay for about £40 and you’re set.

Higher end – swap the Xeon for a better one (or an i7), swap the 960 for a 980, bigger SSD, better keyboard/mouse, better gamepad.

Lower end – swap the Xeon for an i5 (or lower still an i3), use 8GB RAM instead of 16GB (but I’d try and stick with 16GB), lose the DVD drive, smaller mechanical drive, swap the graphics card for a GTX 750Ti or an R7 260.

Had an interest in technology all my life. Network Manager by day; Techspert, husband and daddy by night/weekend. Currently the proud owner of a OnePlus One paired with a Pebble Steel, HTPC hooked up to the telly and Android tablets everywhere. Interests in coin mining, FreeNAS, gaming and photography.